Commentary: "Hey, there's a big planet that Babylon 5 orbits, let's actually bother to MENTION IT!" Even though Signs and Portents was the first arc-heavy episode, this was the one that for me signaled that this was no ordinary television series--the escalating problems on Mars had been mentioned in previous episodes, and they actually happen here. This kind of continuing storyline hadn't really been seen in American programming prior to this (outside of soap operas).